An ideal spacing is required for the control of Class II CRP-dependent promoters by the status of CRP K100.

Transcription activation by the Escherichia coli CRP at Class II promoters is dependent on direct interactions between RNA polymerase and CRP, therefore the spatial proximity between both proteins plays a significant role in the ability of CRP to activate transcription. Using both in vivo and in vitro techniques, here we demonstrate that the CRP K100 positive charge, adjacent to AR2, is required for full promoter activity when CRP is optimally positioned. Accordingly, K100 mediated activation is very position-dependent and our data confirm that the largest impact of the K100 status on transcription activation occurs when the spacing between the CRP binding site and the A2 of the -10 element is 22 bp. From the results of this study and the progress in the understanding about open complex DNA scrunching, we propose that CRP-dependent promoters should now be numbered by the distance from the center of the DNA site for CRP and the most highly conserved base at position 2 of the -10 hexamer in bacterial promoters.

An HcpR homologue from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and its possible role in nitrate reduction and nitrosative stress.

The Escherichia coli CRP (cAMP receptor protein), is a global regulator of transcription that modulates gene expression by activation or repression at a range of promoters in E. coli. A major function is to regulate the selection of nutrients required for growth. The anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC27774 is capable of utilizing sulfate, nitrite and nitrate as terminal electron acceptors. In the presence of both sulfate and nitrate, sulfate is reduced preferentially despite nitrate being the thermodynamically more favourable electron acceptor. Three inverted repeat sequences upstream of the D. desulfuricans ATCC27774 nap (nitrate reduction in the periplasm) operon have high levels of similarity to the consensus sequence for the E. coli CRP DNA-binding site. In other Desulfovibrio species a putative CRP homologue, HcpR [regulator of hcp (hybrid cluster protein) transcription], has a predicted regulon comprising genes involved in sulfate reduction and nitrosative stress. The presence of CRP consensus sites within the D. desulfuricans ATCC27774 nap promoter prompted a search for CRP homologues in the genomes of sulfate-reducing bacteria. This revealed the presence of a potential CRP homologue that we predict binds to CRP consensus sites such as those of the nap operon. Furthermore, we predict that much of the core HcpR regulon predicted in other Desulfovibrio species is conserved in D. desulfuricans.